


Operation: Give Changbin the Love He Deserves

by tiniegyus



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, changbin thinks he's tough but really he's just a big ol' softie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiniegyus/pseuds/tiniegyus
Summary: Changbin did his best to cultivate a reputation as the stoic, closed off member of his friend group.





	Operation: Give Changbin the Love He Deserves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iridescentmusings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentmusings/gifts).



5

 

Changbin did his best to cultivate a reputation as the stoic, closed off member of his friend group.

 

In hindsight he couldn’t remember why he did that, only that when he met all of them at the beginning of university he’d wanted to shake off the dorky reputation he’d had from high school and thought that this would make him seem cool. It probably didn’t, but here he was four years later, stuck with it.

 

It wasn’t all bad. Really, most of his friends knew he was secretly a softie, but it certainly wasn’t something they acknowledged out loud. He kept his problems to himself, shied away from physical contact, and generally tried to avoid emotional situations. Some days, however, the stress of keeping things in became too much. Some days all he wanted to do was isolate himself in his room and cry into a pint of ice cream until he felt better.                        

 

Today was one of those days.

 

There wasn’t any one bad thing that had happened. It was a buildup - a combination of lack of sleep, too much schoolwork, and rude customers at the coffee shop where he worked. The end result, however, was one tired, cranky, ready-to-cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat Changbin who just wanted to go to bed.

 

He let out a sigh of relief upon shutting the door to his apartment behind him, knowing he could throw off the stress of the past several weeks and gorge himself before passing out. “Thank fucking god,” he muttered to himself as he kicked off his shoes. Collapsing back against the door he buried his head in his hands and sniffed as he felt the first tears beginning to well up in his eyes. “Time to eat my weight in ice cream.”

 

“Changbin?”

 

Changbin froze because he _knew_ that voice and he _knew_ what the person that voice belonged to was doing in his apartment and he _knew_ what that meant for him. In that moment Changbin remembered that he’d agreed to look over his friend’s newest song and that he’d told him that he could just let himself in because Changbin had to work a later shift that day. “Chan?”

 

The older boy appeared in the entryway of Changbin’s apartment, frowning when he took in the sight of his friend. “Yeah. Is everything okay? You look kind of upset.”

 

For a brief moment Changbin considered trying to drag the tattered fragments of his “stoic” reputation back together to put on a front for his friend, but as Chan stepped forward and reached out to lay a hand on Changbin’s arm Changbin knew it was useless to try. Instead, he did something he hadn’t let himself do since he left his hometown for university and launched himself into his friend’s arms before bursting into tears.

 

“Oh shit,” he heard Chan say, before the older boy’s arms wrapped tightly around Changbin. “Hey, shh, shh, Binnie, it’s okay, you’re okay, shh.”

 

Chan gently coaxed Changbin out of the hallway and into his living room, laying him down on the couch and wrapping himself around the younger. Changbin buried his head in Chan’s chest as he sobbed, clinging tightly to his friend. Chan continued to murmur soothingly, while also running a hand gently through Changbin’s hair.

 

Finally, Changbin found himself calming down until eventually his tears stopped. “Ah,” he said, pulling away from Chan, “sorry about that. Give me a minute to get my things, I’ll look over you -”

 

“Hey.” Chan grabbed Changbin as he tried to move and locked in him his place on the couch. “That’s not important right now. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine, really, I promise I’m -”  

 

“Bullshit.” Chan snapped. He propped himself up on an elbow so he could look down at Changbin. “I know you don’t like to open up to us, but you just cried in my arms for _half an hour_ , Changbin. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

 

Changbin sighed and, figuring his reputation was pretty much already shot to hell, snuggled closer to Chan. “It’s nothing really. Just a long couple of weeks, that’s all. I haven’t been able to sleep very well recently and then there were some asshole customers at work today. I was going to just take a night to relax, but I forgot you were coming over and then you were here and, well…”

 

“Straw that broke the camel’s back, huh?”

 

“I’m sorry you had to see me like this,” Changbin replied miserably. “I really didn’t remember that you were coming over.”

 

“Hey,” Chan said sternly, “don’t you _ever_ apologize for something like this. Everyone has moments where they can’t handle things. To be honest, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened already in the four years we’ve known each other.”

 

They were silent for a while. Changbin took this moment to enjoy the feeling of another body pressed to his, knowing that the likelihood of anything like this happening again anytime soon was slim.

 

“Chan,” he said, breaking the silence. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

 

To Changbin’s surprise, Chan’s answer came in the form of a kiss pressed to the top of his head. “Don’t worry. This will stay between us.”

 

\----------

 

_“Guys, I think Changbin is touched starved,” Chan announced to his friends._

 

_Minho snorted. “Changbin? Please. That little shit doesn’t want anything to do with physical contact.”_

 

_Chan shook his head. “I don’t think so. The other day I was at his apartment and he had a breakdown and practically threw himself at me. Once he calmed down he made a really shitty, half-hearted attempt to get away, but when I made him keep cuddling with me he didn’t protest again. And you should have heard him! I played with his hair at one point and I swear to god he nearly started purring.”_

 

_“Huh,” said Woojin. “I mean, that would make sense. He tries to act so tough, but as a consequence he never really touches anyone. If it’s been at least four years of that, and who knows how long before hand, then he very well could be touch starved.”_

 

_“Well then we know what we have to do,” said Felix determinedly. “We have to give him the affection he wants.”_

 

_Seungmin frowned. “But if he’s not asking for it-”_

 

_“Then we hug him anyway.”_

 

_“I think Felix is right,” said Jisung. “If he tells us to stop then obviously we stop, but if Chan is right and he’s touch starved then I don’t think he will.”_

 

_“Do we all agree?” Chan looked around at all of his friends who were nodding their heads in agreement. “Good. Operation: Give Changbin the Love He Deserves is a go.”_

 

4

 

“Minho? Woojin?” Changbin frowned at the sight of his two friends standing outside his door. “What are you doing here?”

 

“We’re here to take care of you,” Minho said firmly, elbowing past Changbin and into his apartment.

 

Woojin smiled and held up a take-away bag. “We brought food?”

 

“Okay….” Changbin said slowly, letting the older boy into the apartment. “That doesn’t explain anything though?”

 

“Changbin,” Minho replied as he made himself comfortable on the couch, “no offense, but you look like shit. When was the last time you slept?”

 

“Last night!”

“For how long?”

 

Changbin flushed and looked away from Minho, running a hand through his hair nervously. “Three hours?”

 

“And the night before that?”

 

“Three hours?”

 

“And before that?”

 

“I didn’t?”

 

“You need to sleep, Binnie,” Woojin said as he set out the food. “And if that’s how you’ve been sleeping then odds are you’ve been living on ramyun too. So we’re going to feed you and then make you go to bed.”

 

Changbin stared at them, one eyebrow raised skeptically. “It’s 5 pm.”

 

“Nothing wrong with an early bedtime, Binnie,” Minho said. “Now come here.” With that, he reached out for Changbin’s arm and, without warning, pulled the younger boy down onto his lap.

 

Changbin spluttered. “What the fuck, Minho!”

 

“Hush. Consider yourself lucky I’m letting you have the _privilege_ of sitting on my lap. Now eat your food.”

 

Changbin crossed his arms and glared at his friend. “I can’t exactly get to the food can I?”

 

At that moment Woojin appeared at his side, a container of food in his hand. “Say _ahh_.”

 

“What the fuck?” Changbin batted away the chopsticks that Woojin held out towards him. “Woojin, I can eat on my own.”

 

“We’re taking care of you though, so you’re not going to. Now open wide.”

 

Changbin sighed, but grudgingly opened his mouth and allowed Woojin to feed him until all the food had been consumed.

 

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” cooed Minho.

 

“Shut up,” Changbin muttered, his arms still folded across his chest petulantly.

 

“Aww, cute.” Woojin smiled and reached out to pinch Changbin’s cheek, ignoring the younger boy as he tried to swat Woojin’s hands away. “Are you ready for bed yet?”

 

“It’s not even 6 pm!”

 

Minho tutted. “Too bad. Woojin, get the baby. I’ll clean up and be right in.”

 

Woojin nodded and then, without hesitation, scooped Changbin off Minho’s lap and began to carry him to his room.

 

“Wha - Woojin! Put me down!” Changbin squawked.

 

“Alright,” Woojin said, smiling as he put Changbin down next to his bed, one arm still wrapped around his waist to keep him from running off. He pulled back the covers and then crawled into bed, pulling Changbin down to be the little spoon. “Now sleep.”

 

“Without me?” Minho appeared in the doorway, a pout on his face. “Rude.”

 

“Well, it’s not my fault you’re not in bed with us. Maybe if you hurried up.”

 

“Maybe if you shut up,” Minho sniffed, making his way to the bed and climbing in, curling himself around the two of them so that Changbin’s head was pillowed on his chest.

 

“Both of you shut up, I thought the point of this was for me to sleep,” grumbled Changbin. His face was flushed, but he let out a barely audible sigh of contentment and tightened his grip on Minho’s waist, causing the two older boys to exchange a knowing look over Changbin’s shoulder. Now that Changbin was full and snuggled warmly into his bed he felt himself quickly falling asleep. “Thank you,” he murmured lowly, almost too soft to be heard. “This was nice.”

 

“We’re glad you enjoyed it,” Woojin replied. “Now sleep.”

 

\----------

 

_“Chan was right, he’s_ definitely _touch starved,” Minho announced at the next meeting for Operation: Give Changbin the love he deserves. “You should have seen him; for someone who pretends to be tough and won’t let anyone near him half the time, he was certainly willing to cuddle.”_

 

_Woojin nodded. “When we got him into bed he practically melted. It was pretty adorable, to be honest.”_

 

_“I told you!” gloated Chan. “I knew I was right!”_

 

_“So what do we do now? Do we just take advantage of any opportunities we may find? Or do we go out of our way like Minho and Woojin did?” asked Seungmin._

 

_“Don’t go out of your way,” said Jisung. “We want this to be subtle, right? If Changbin catches on to what we’re doing he might put back up some of the walls we’re hopefully tearing down.”_

 

_“Jisung’s right. If you see a chance, then take it. Otherwise, act as though everything is normal.” Minho’s eyes softened. “Poor boy. He really needs this.”_

 

3

 

Changbin loved music.

 

There was a reason he was majoring in music production; he always had a song in his head, tapping out the rhythm with a pencil in class, spending his free time holed up in his on-campus studio to work on production. Sometimes this translated to him staying up all night to work in the studio, but really, it wasn’t a big deal. As long as none of his friends found out (and it had been four years without them finding out) then he would be fine.

 

Obviously, his luck couldn’t last forever.

 

“Changbin,” Hyunjin said, hands on his hips as he glared at him. “Please tell me you aren’t planning to spend the night here.”

 

“It’s not a big deal, Jinnie,” he protested. “There’s a couch in here, and I have a blanket. I’ll be fine.”

 

“I don’t know, Changbin,” said Jeongin worriedly. “I don’t think this is the best idea. Won’t you be more productive if you get a good night’s sleep?”

 

Changbin scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Jeongin, I’ve done this before. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

Hyunjin let out a long sigh that was heavily tinged with disappointment and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve done this before, and yet here we are.”

 

“It’s okay, really,” Changbin tried to reassure his friends. “You two can go home and get some sleep, alright? The couch folds out into a futon, so I’m practically spending the night in a bed. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

 

Hyunjin glanced at Jeongin and there was a moment where they seemed to hold a silent conversation. Finally, Hyunjin sighed and Jeongin said, “We’ll let you spend the night in here on one condition: take a nap first and then do your work.”

 

Changbin sighed; at this point, he’d agree to anything to get them to stop nagging. “Fine.”

 

“Good. Where’s this blanket you said you have?”

 

Changbin frowned and point towards the studio closet. “In there, why?”

 

“Jeongin, you get the blanket, I’ll get the baby,” Hyunjin said, marching forward and grabbing Changbin by the arm to drag him out of his seat and towards the couch. “You, help me get this thing into futon mode.”

 

“What are you guys going to do, tuck me in? That’s very nice of you but I think I can-”

“No!” Hyunjin rounded on Changbin, pointing a finger at him. “Quite frankly, Binnie, I don’t trust you to actually take a nap if we leave, so Jeongin and I are going to take a nap _with_ you. Sound good? Great. Now help me with the futon.”

 

“W-What?” Changbin spluttered. “Guys, that’s really not necessary-”

 

“We didn’t ask for your opinion,” Jeongin said, draping the blanket over Changbin’s shoulders. The youngest helped Hyunjin wrestle the futon into position then pointed at it. “Now get on the couch.”

 

“Jeongin -”

 

“Changbin. Get on the couch.”

 

Wordlessly they stared each other down until, taking advantage of his distraction, Hyunjin grabbed Changbin around the waist and wrestled him on to the futon.

 

“Hey - Hyunjin!” Changbin squirmed, trying to get away, but it was no use: Hyunjin latched onto him like a koala and wouldn’t let go.

 

“Stop moving,” Hyunjin grumbled. “Jeongin, get over here.”

 

“Jeongin, don’t you dare-”

 

“Sorry!” The younger boy chirped, the smile on his face blatantly unapologetic. He pulled the blanket out from where it was awkwardly pillowed under Changbin and then snuggled close to the other two, taking a moment to drape the rather large blanket over all three of them.

“Now go to sleep,” Hyunjin instructed. “We’ll wake you in a few hours so you can get some work done, okay?”

 

Changbin debated, for a moment, trying one last time to pry Hyunjin off of him and then crawling across Jeongin to get away. _But,_ said a little voice in the back of his head, _it’s so warm and you never get hugs. You need to take advantage while you can_.

 

Fine.

 

“Three hours max, okay?” Changbin said while attempting to subtly nuzzle his head into Hyunjin’s neck. “I really do have work to do.”

 

“Three hours,” promised Jeongin as he intertwined their hands before resting them on Hyunjin’s hip. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to the back of Changbin’s head. “Now listen to Hyunjin, and go to sleep, okay?”

 

“Mmkay,” murmured Changbin as he closed his eyes, exhaustion taking over. “Love you.”

 

Hyunjin kissed his forehead. “Love you too.”

 

\----------

 

_“You should have seen him,” Hyunjin said dreamily. “I’ve never seen Changbin let his guard down so much.”_

 

_“It was pretty instant too,” added Jeongin. “As soon as he saw he couldn’t get away he just gave in.”_

 

_“That’s good, isn’t? It means maybe he’s becoming more accepting of everything.” Felix smiled at the thought. “I’m glad; Binnie deserves to be cuddled sometimes too. Hopefully one of us will find another chance soon.”_

 

_Jisung beamed. “I know I will! I’m going over to his apartment tomorrow to study for our exam this week. I won’t force anything, but I’ll see what I can do to get him comfortable._

 

2

 

“Ugh,” groaned Jisung, dropping his head into his hands. “I hate this.”

 

“You’re the one who wanted us to sign up for an advanced level math course together,” Changbin reminded him, not looking up from where his pencil was scratching away as he wrote. “This is on you.”

“Why didn’t you stop me?” the younger whined.

 

Changbin shrugged, his focus still not leaving his worksheet. “I’ve learned not to try and prevent your dumb ideas; if I’d tried to stop you from signing us up for algebra two you’d probably have signed us up for advanced calculus or some shit. Better to let you have your rant and just deal with the consequences.”

 

“Shut up,” Jisung mumbled, his words muffled by the fact that he was lying face down on Changbin’s living room table. “Stop making _sense_.”

 

“Look, Jisung,” Changbin sighed. What could he recommend for his friend to get better? It’s not like he hadn’t tried explaining the concept they were studying; at this point, Jisung was too tired to comprehend anything. “Maybe take a break for a bit? If you need a nap you can take my bed.”

 

Jisung groaned, but hauled himself up and walked towards Changbin’s room. Changbin, satisfied that his friend was taking care of himself, turned his attention back to his work, only to be startled when, a few seconds later, Jisung suddenly plastered himself to Changbin’s back. “Changbinnie,” he cooed, “will you come take a nap with me? You know I sleep better when I have something to hold.”

 

Changbin froze at the sensation of Jisung’s arms wrapping around him. “Sungie, I-”

 

“Please?” Jisung was practically whining into Changbin’s ear. “Please, Changbinnie?”

 

With a sigh, Changbin turned in his seat to face Jisung. “Are you going to leave me alone if I keep saying no?”

 

“Probably not,” Jisung replied with a shrug. “Please?”

 

“Fine!” Changbin shoved himself away from the table and grabbed Jisung’s hand, dragging him towards the bedroom. “But - and I’m going to hold you to this - if you tell _anyone_ -”

 

“I won’t, I swear,” replied Jisung, although the smirk on his implied otherwise. “Now get in bed.”

Sighing, Changbin kicked off his slippers and slipped under the covers, holding them up so that Jisung could join him. The younger boy did so happily, wrapping his arms around Changbin and tangling their legs together. “Changbinnie, you know you can hug me back, right?” Jisung looked at Changbin, staring at him until Changbin sighed and brought one of his arms up to wrap around Jisung’s shoulders. “Good job!” Jisung said happily, linking his hand with Changbin’s free one where it lay on Changbin’s chest. “Now sleep.”

 

“Jisung-”

 

“Sleep, Changbin.” The younger’s voice was surprisingly soft. “Just relax.”

 

Changbin sighed but squeezed Jisung’s hand in acknowledgment. Outwardly, it seemed that he was obeying Jisung, but inwardly his mind was racing. This made six out of his eight friends now who had some excuse to cuddle with him, and all within the last three weeks. There was no way that this could be a coincidence - right?

 

\----------

 

_“I think he might be catching on to us,” Jisung said, biting at his lip nervously. “He kept giving me these weird looks after we woke up.”_

 

_“Is it so bad if he_ does _figure out what we’re going?” asked Seungmin. “After all, then he’ll know that we’re more than willing to hold him anytime he might want to be.”_

 

_Jeongin shook his head. “On the other hand, if he feels like we’re babying him, he might stop coming to us for support entirely.”_

 

_“Chan, what do you think we should do?” At Felix’s words, everyone’s heads turned to look at the de facto leader of their little quest. “Should we back off?”_

 

_Chan pondered the question for a moment, then shook his head. “No. If he does figure it out and pull away, then we can talk to him, but for now, let’s keep going the way we have been. He deserves affection; I think it’s worth risking his anger for that.”_

 

1

 

_This feels oddly familiar_ , thought Changbin as he stared at the two smiling faces standing in his doorway. “Seungmin? Felix? What are you two doing here?”

 

“We brought you dinner!” Seungmin beamed. “Can we come in?”

 

“Uhh… Yes?” Changbin replied, cautiously stepping aside to let his friends in. He certainly hadn’t been expecting this; he was halfway through a movie when they arrived, a bowl of ramyun waiting for him when he got hungry. “Can someone explain why you’re here though?”

 

“Minho and Woojin asked us to come,” replied Felix. “Seungmin, go find the blankets.”

 

“Wha-? Why does Seungmin need to go find the blankets? Why do you need blankets?” Changbin asked. “Hey, stop! Seungmin!” The younger boy happily ignored him, bouncing off to Changbin’s bedroom to grab any blankets he could find. Exasperated, Changbin turned to Felix. “Lix, what is going on? Why did Minho and Woojin ask you to come?”

 

“They were planning to come themselves, but there was a last minute meeting at work and they knew Seungmin and I were both done with our midterms. Minho wanted me to let you know that they’ll come by next week to make up for this.”

 

“Okay…” said Changbin slowly. No wonder this felt familiar; Minho and Woojin had been here just two weeks ago after all. “But did he say why _they_ were going to come?”

 

Felix shrugged. “He just said you’d know the reason. Why, is it something important?”

 

Changbin shook his head and crossed his arms. “No. No… I didn’t think they were coming at all, to be honest.”

 

“I’ve got four blankets!” announced Seungmin as he entered the room. “I don’t think there are any more, but I can go looking again if I need to.”

 

“Don’t bother, that’s all I have in the house,” Changbin said. “Although why you need every single blanket I own is beyond me.”

 

Felix beamed. “For a movie night, of course! We’ll even let you pick the movie.”

 

Changbin snorted. “Oh, you’ll _let_ me pick the movie, how nice of you. Not like we’re in my own damn house or anything.”

 

“Lighten up, Binnie.” Seungmin dumped the blankets on the couch, then latched onto Changbin’s arm. “Let’s just have a fun, relaxing night, okay?”

 

Looking at the younger boy skeptically Changbin asked, “Do I get a say in the matter?”

 

“Nope!” chorused the two boys. “Now come on,” said Felix, flopping down on the couch and opening his arms. “Movie time.”

 

Somehow, despite his protests, this led to Changbin laying on Felix’s chest, while Seungmin lay on his. The food the two boys had picked up was all things that could be eaten while lounging and they quickly devoured everything - well, Changbin devoured whatever has shoved into his face and hoped that the other two were actually eating something themselves.

 

Considering the fact that Changbin was already halfway through _The Fellowship of the Ring_ when Felix and Seungmin arrived, the three of them had made the decision to carry on with the trilogy. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem for Changbin; he’d marathoned all the movies before. Today, however, contently full, surrounded by the warmth of both the blankets and his friends, he found himself nodding off partway through _The Two Towers_. “Lix?” he mumbled as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

 

“Yes, Binnie?” Felix’s voice sounded far away.

 

“This’s nice… Thank you…”

 

As he drifted off he felt what seemed to be the press of lips to his hand and thought he heard Seungmin say, “Anything for you, Binnie.”

 

\----------

 

_“He’s a baby!” Seungmin marveled, awe in his eyes. “Channie, you should have seen him! He looked so cute!”_

 

_Chan chuckled. “You don’t have to tell me that. For all he pretends to be tough, he’s one of the softest people I’ve ever met.”_

 

_“He fell asleep on my chest,” said Felix dreamily. “It was adorable.”_

 

_“Did it seem like he’d figured out what was up?” asked Jisung nervously._

 

_Felix shook his head. “He questioned me a bit about Minho and Woojin, but it didn’t seem like he was too suspicious.”_

 

_“Good.” Chan smiled happily. “Maybe now that he’s had this contact with all of us, he’ll be comfortable seeking us out when he needs too.”_

 

+1

 

It had been a really shitty day.

 

Changbin had slept through his alarm that morning, making him nearly twenty minutes late for his first class. After that, he’d been bounced back and forth between classes and meetings with his various advisors and TAs all day until it was time for his shift at work. At work, he’d gotten busted trying to sneak a pastry out of the case, his manager uncaring that he’d only had some crackers to eat that day. After getting a loud dressing-down in front of his coworkers and all ten customers in the shop, he’d thought things couldn’t get any worse, the hot water pump on the coffee maker had broken and, when he’d tried to go fix it he accidentally blasted himself with a whole pot of lukewarm coffee. Now, on his way home, he was tired, he was hungry, and he smelled like coffee. He wanted to sleep for a week.

 

Unfortunately, he knew that he wouldn’t get to sleep for several more hours at least. With everyone’s schedules lining up for once, all his friends were coming over to his house for dinner and there was no way on earth that would ever be a quick affair. The idea of being around people right now made him want to cry, but he knew there was no way he could kick his friends out without them getting worried.

 

He unlocked his door and stepped into the apartment, the sound of his entry lost amidst the loud conversation drifting into the hallway from his room. They were all so caught up in their discussion that it took them a few moments to notice him standing in the doorway. Then Chan saw him and smiled. “Changbin!” Then, as he took in the sight of the younger boy his smile turned to a frown. “Is everything okay?”

 

Changbin was the stoic friend. The one who shied away from physical contact, even if he might want it. He’d been made fun of all throughout high school for being too “touchy” with his friends, being so clingy. He’d shaken off that image in university and maintained his new reputation for four years. But the past three weeks had shown him that his friends were willing to give him hugs, to cuddle with him and not tease him for being needy. They’d welcomed the contact, actually, often initiating the hugs. So with that in mind, he looked Chan dead in the eyes and burst into tears.

 

He reached out a hand to Chan, although it wasn’t necessary because the older boy was on his feet the minute Changbin began to cry. Chan pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing his back and murmuring calming things in a move so reminiscent of that time a few weeks ago. Then, suddenly, there was another set of hands wrapping around him, and then another and another and before Changbin could fully comprehend what was happening all eight of his friends were surrounding him in a hug.

 

When his tears finally stopped Chan pressed a kiss to the top of his head and pulled back far enough to be able to see Changbin’s face. “Can we go lay down? Seungmin went and dug through your closet earlier, grabbed all your blankets.”

 

Changbin laughed quietly and sniffed. “Please.”

 

Somehow all nine boys shuffled to the blanket pile and after Chan settled down with Changbin in his arms the other boys piled on. Minho was spooned up to Changbin’s back, with Woojin behind him. Woojin’s arm reached over Minho to rest on Changbin’s hip. Felix was laying half on top of Changbin, and Seungmin and Jisung were curled around each other, their heads resting on one of Changbin’s legs. Seungmin was sitting up with his back leaning against the couch, but Changbin’s head was resting on his leg. Jeongin was laying with his head on Seungmin’s thigh, his hand running softly through Changbin’s hair. All in all, it was more physical affection than Changbin had received in a long time and he found himself burrowing into the warmth and care that surrounded him.

 

“How you feeling?” asked Minho.

 

“Better,” Changbin said softly. “Thank you, guys.”

 

“No need to thank us,” replied Felix. “You’re our friend, of course we’re going to be there for you if you need it.”

 

“Do you need us to do anything?” Woojin asked as he stroked his thumb gently over Changbin’s hip.

 

Changbin shook his head. “No. Just… Just this is good. Thank you. Do you mind if I… Nevermind.”

 

Chan smiled gently and kissed his forehead. “Go to sleep, Changbin. We’ll still be here when you wake up.”

 

Changbin smiled as he closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

 

\----------

 

_“He looks so small when he’s asleep,” said Seungmin quietly. “I told you guys: it’s so freaking cute.”_

 

_“I’m glad he trusted us.” Chan’s gaze hasn’t left Changbin since the younger boy closed his eyes. Every now and then he smiled softly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m glad he felt comfortable trusting us.”_

 

_“We need to make sure he knows we’re always here for him if he needs it. He needs to know that he can reach out to us like this again.” Minho’s gaze is also on Changbin, the look in his eyes incredibly fond._

 

_Woojin pressed a kiss to Minho’s neck then nuzzled his head into the nape of his neck. “Don’t worry. I think he’s figured it out.”_

**Author's Note:**

> this is for my best friend, who's been going through some rough times recently. i can't help her as much as i'd like because i live across the ocean so instead i wrote some fluffy moments of her (bestest) boy getting the love and attention he deserves. (also this may have been an excuse to write tiny!changbin but you didn't hear that from me)
> 
> big thanks to @ashtin for proofing this!!
> 
> please leave comments and kudos they're what keep me going.
> 
> if you want to talk to me anonymously you can drop me a message at curiouscat.me/sunsmilehobi
> 
> check out my twitter @tiniegyus


End file.
